WWE Monday Night RAW LIVE Results for 2/3/14: What’s Next For Daniel Bryan?

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Tonight is really the first RAW of the post-CM Punk Era. Will the crowd take over the show with chants of his name tonight? And what’s next for Daniel Bryan? Also, how serious is John Cena’s eye injury, and will the WWE capitalize with a new line of John Cena eye patches? Follow along to find out.

The Authority’s Reason For Existence: Troll Everyone

Randy Orton came out to start the show. Orton said that it was unfair that he has to defend the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber as the crowd broke out in CM Punk chants. And he said he thinks The Authority is up to something. Orton asked how many times he has to beat everyone in the Chamber before he can prove he is the face of the WWE. He said he’s winning the WWE Title then beating Batista at WrestleMania. Orton said everyone needs to realize he is the greatest superstar of this generation and the greatest attraction on Monday Night RAW.

The Authority came out and was greeted with CM Punk chants. Steph said Orton is paranoid and it is going to be a distraction for him. HHH said that every week Orton says the same thing and maybe they should consider putting their faith in someone else. Steph said over the next few weeks Orton will face every wrestler inside the Chamber. Tonight he faces Daniel Bryan, and Steph said that if Bryan wins they may have to reconsider him as the new face of the WWE. Triple H lead a YES chant as Orton looked on in disbelief.

Rey Mysterio’s Only Job: Facing The Shield In Six Man Tags

It’s The Shield vs Kofi Kingston, Big E Langston and Rey Mysterio. Big E tossed Ambrose into the corner and worked him over a bit before tagging in Kofi. Kofi hit an armdrag takedown. Ambrose tagged in Rollins who ate an elbow. Kofi hit a splash in the corner, but Rollins came right back with a clothesline. The Shield then took turns working over Kofi. Rollins hit a nice neckbreaker on the top rope on Kofi. Rollins missed a knee drop and Kofi made the tag to Rey. Rey hit a seated senton followed by a kick to the head for two. Rey was on Rollins shoulders but Reigns made a blind tag and hit a clothesline on Rey while on the shoulders of Rollins.

Reigns still had control over Rey back from break. Rey tried fighting out of a headlock but Reigns over powered him. Ambrose came in and went to a chinlock. Rey fought out with some kicks, but Ambrose caught him and placed him in the tree of woe in the corner, but Rey lifted himself up and Ambrose missed a Spear. Big E got the hot tag as did Reigns. Big E hit a spear in the corner followed by a belly-to-belly and splash. Rollins and Ambrose broke up the pin. Rey and Kofi broke it up. Reigns ended up hitting the Superman Punch and was lining up for the Spear, but Ambrose tagged himself in and hit his finisher for the win.

WINNERS: The Shield

After the match Rollins tried to settle the tension but The Wyatts appeared on the screen. Bray said The Shield was nothing but pawns and he can’t wait to build his empire and watch his enemies fall.

Bad News Barrett was on his podium. He said last night the Super Bowl was the most watched show in TV history. But he has some bad news, because we were all eating so much food that is clogging our arteries that we won’t make it to next year’s Super Bowl. Jerry Lawler interrupted and said that he hopes next week Barrett isn’t around anymore.

A Rematch From Smackdown Because We Always Have To Have One

Christian vs Jack Swagger. Swagger backed Christian into the corner and then tossed him into the other. But Christian caught him with a kick then tossed him to the outside. Christian went to the apron but Swagger pulled his legs out from under him and Christian fell on the apron. Swagger tossed Christian into the steps and got a two count in the ring. Swagger hit a running knee in the corner followed by a toss for two. Christian fought out of a submission but ate a powerslam. Swagger went to the top but ate a Christian boot on the way down. Christian hit a missile dropkick off the top, but Swagger bounced back with a running knee to the mid-section. Christian countered a pump handle slam with a reverse DDT for two. Christian hit his over the rope uppercut. He went for a crossbody off the top but Swagger caught him. He went for a Patriot Lock but Christian countered. He went to the top but Swagger moved. Swagger went for the Swagger Bomb but Christian moved and scored a roll-up for the win.

WINNER: Christian

Who Has A Basic Tag Match Inside A Cage???

The Rhodes Brothers vs The Outlaws for the Tag Titles inside a steel cage. Goldust and Road Dogg started. Goldust took down Road Dogg and Dogg blocked himself from the kick, so Goldust crawled towards him and freaked him out. Billy Gunn came in. Goldust landed some punches and tagged in Cody. Cody went for an armbar but Billy Gunn blocked it. Cody went for a roll up but only got two. Billy caught him with a kick to the gut but Cody went for another roll up but only got two. Road Dogg came in and he went to work on the bad arm of Cody Rhodes as the crowd started another CM Punk chant. The Outlaws took turns working over the arm of Cody Rhodes. Cody regained the upperhand on Road Dogg and went to an armbar of his own. Goldust came in and continued to work on the arm of Road Dogg. Goldust went for a dive on Road Dogg but he ducked and Goldust went right into the cage.

The Outlaws continued to have control of Goldust back from break. Road Dogg tossed Golust into the cage. Goldust escaped a chinlock and Road Dogg missed an elbow, but Billy Gunn tagged in and stopped Goldust from making the tag. Goldust hit a springboard elbow, but Billy Gunn stopped him from making a tag and hit a boot to the face for two. Road Dogg came in and missed his jab punches. Goldust hit a spinebuster and tagged in Cody. Cody tossed Billy Gunn into the cage. Cody went for Cross Rhodes but Road Dogg broke it up. Goldust tossed Road Dogg into the cage but Billy Gunn tossed Goldust into the cage. Cody hit a Disaster Kick but only got two. Cody climbed to the top of the cage and hit a moonsault from the top on Road Dogg. But Billy Gunn was the legal man, and he hit the Fameasser for the win.

WINNERS: The New Age Outlaws

Miz Is Shooting Brother!!!

Titus O’Neil vs Zack Ryder. O’Neil dominated Ryder early on and tossed him to the outside. Suddenly, Miz came to the commentary table. Miz said that it is ridiculous that a guy that barks like a dog is on RAW yet he isn’t. Then he left. Ryder escaped a bearhug and caught O’Neil with a couple knees. Ryder hit the Broski Boot, but O’Neil recovered and hit a couple backbreakers, followed by a clothesline in the corner and Clash of the Titus for the win.

WINNER: Titus O’Neil

Emma made her debut by beating Summer Rae in a Dance Contest, with Santino doing the mic work. Yep.

This Will Surely Stop The CM Punk Chants

Sheamus vs Curtis Axel. The match started and a CM Punk chant broke out again. Sheamus took down Axel with a headlock. Axel backed Sheamus into the corner and landed some body blows. Sheamus then did the same and hit a high running knee. Axel rolled to the outside and went for a neckbreaker on the apron, but Sheamus reversed it and hit his rope punches. Sheamus then slammed the head of Axel on the announce table. Sheamus telegraphed a backdrop but Axel used his knee to go right into the shoulder of Sheamus, then he threw Sheamus into the ringpost. Axel started working over the bad arm of Sheamus. Axel put Sheamus in an armbar and another CM Punk chant broke out. Sheamus escaped and started a comeback. Sheamus hit White Noise followed by the Brogue Kick for the win.

WINNER: Sheamus

What A Great Segment! #sarcasm

Batista came out, but before he could speak Alberto del Rio came out. Del Rio said before WrestleMania, they needed to talk about their unfinished business. Batista said him coming back had nothing to do with Del Rio. Del Rio said that while Batista was sitting on his couch, Del Rio was there every night and winning titles. Del Rio said he was going to hurt Batista. Batista interrupted Del Rio but Del Rio caught him with a punch. He went for the cross armbreaker but Batista pushed him away and Del Rio bailed.

I Bet You Know What Team Is Winning

It’s the Wyatt Family vs Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth and Xaiver Woods. Rowan started with some aggressive offense on Woods and a shoulder tackle. Woods fought back with some leg kicks. R-Truth made a blind tag and Truth landed a kick to the head. Rowan grabbed Truth and backed him into his corner. Harper tagged in and he took out Truth. Bray came in and landed some kicks and punches. Bray hit a splash in the corner and Harper came in and applied a headlock. Truth tried fighting out but ate a headbutt. Truth was able to catch Harper with a clothesline and tagged in Ziggler. He landed a couple clotheslines then some corner punches followed by a neckbreaker and elbow drop. Ziggler hit a DDT but Rowan broke up the pin. Woods dropkicked Rowan out of the ring. Bray took out Woods as Harper hit his clothesline on Ziggler. Bray then hit Sister Abigail on Dolph to pick up the win.

WINNERS: The Wyatt Family

After the match, The Shield cut a promo. Ambrose said they weren’t afraid of him and Rollins said the Wyatts biggest delusion was that they think they can hang with The Shield. Reigns said playtime is over at the Elimination Chamber.

Naomi defeated Aksana. Naomi took a hard knee to the eye from Aksana during the match. It looked painful. Naomi held her eye and couldn’t open it after the match.

Main event time. Orton caught Bryan with a kick to the gut but Bryan came back with an elbow. Orton regained the upperhand and hit a suplex. Orton took down Bryan with a shoulder tackle but Bryan came back with a running knee followed by an armdrag takedown. On the outside Bryan slammed Orton’s leg into the ringpost twice then hit a dropkick into the leg of Orton, sending it into the post. Bryan started working over the leg of Bryan with various submission holds. Orton eventually escaped one of those holds by biting the leg of Bryan as a CM Punk chant broke out again. Orton hit a couple uppercuts. Bryan went for a backslide that got two then went back to working over the leg of Bryan. Orton bailed to the outside where Bryan landed some kicks on Orton. Bryan then tossed Orton over the announce table and he landed right on Michael Cole. Back in the ring, Bryan hit a double stomp on the legs of Orton. Bryan then landed multiple kicks to the leg of Orton then applied a half crab. Orton got to the ropes to break the hold. Orton went to the outside and hit a backdrop on the barricade.

Orton regained the upperhand and landed multiple punches in the corner. Bryan then reversed it and nailed some kicks. Bryan went for his clothesline but Orton hit a scoopslam into commercial. Back from break Bryan was landing kicks but Orton ducked the last one and hit a T-bone suplex. Orton then tossed Bryan into the ringpost, followed by the steps. Orton continued to work over the shoulder of Bryan in the ring. Orton tried going for a superplex, but Bryan blocked it with a couple of headbutts and punches to the ribs. Orton was knocked off the ropes and Bryan hit a missile dropkick off the top. Bryan landed some kicks to the leg of Orton but Orton grabbed the arm of Bryan and slammed it into the mat. Orton took his time and Bryan applied the YES Lock, but Orton got to the ropes.

Bryan landed more kicks in the corner then two dropkicks in the corner, but when Bryan went for the third Orton came out of the corner and hit a dropkick of his own. Orton hit his middle rope DDT. Orton went for the RKO but Bryan caught him with a kick to the head. Bryan hit the headbutt off the top for two. Bryan landed kicks to the chest followed by a kick to the head. Kane then came to ringside but Bryan knocked him off the apron with a dropkick. Orton went over the top and Bryan hit a dive to the outside. Bryan tossed Orton back in the ring and side-stepped Kane, who went right into the steps. Back in the ring, Orton went for the RKO but Bryan countered then hit the running knee and picked up the win.

After the match, Kane and Orton attacked Bryan and Kane chokeslammed Bryan.

WINNER: Daniel Bryan

WHAT I LIKED

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton: Another solid match between these two. Orton gets a lot of flack from people, but he can hold his own in a match if he has the right opponent. And his work over the last few months has been pretty good. These two have had good matches before and they had another one tonight.

Shield/Wyatt Promos: Good promo exchanges between these two. The WWE is doing a good job of hyping this match up as a big time showdown between these two.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The Role of the Authority: My biggest gripe with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H is that they do not want to go into full heel mode for some reason. Instead they do things a face would do at times. In order for anything to work in the long run, these two need to turn completely heel. And what the hell is Kane doing?

Batista/Alberto del Rio: If the WWE wanted Batista to wrestle some at Elimination Chamber, they could have picked someone better. Del Rio just has no heat whatsoever, and not a single person believes he would beat Batista.

Debut of Emma: Emma is a talented worker in NXT. Having her debut in a pointless dance segment is stupid. The same way they barely played into the debut of Xaiver Woods. And look where he is now.

Steel Cage Match: I’m disappointed that I have to put this here. But the match itself was just off. It was too slow paced in the beginning. They barely utilized the cage at all during the match. Not only that, but Cody whiffed on the moonsault. I had high hopes for the match going into it and it disappointed. Why have a basic tag match in a cage, then not utilize the cage at all?

Miz: I’m assuming the Miz complaining about not being used on RAW randomly during a match was a jab at Punk, but it was just unnecessary, especially considering it was never mentioned again during the show.

To me, this show was the perfect example of the WWE being in complete disarray right now. It was bad even for a placeholder show. CM Punk is gone and John Cena was nowhere to be found. Nothing of note happened on the show at all. It made the current state of the WWE look like a giant mess. There’s no clear direction anywhere. It was a show you look at and it is clearly obvious that their top two stars weren’t there and they didn’t really know what to do. I’m giving the show a 2. And that’s pretty much solely for the main event.

Until Next Time,

Justin C

Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka